The virusian dream

Viruses represent life at the most primitive level imaginable. Resentful of life without nourishment and reproduction, this particular group of organisms prefer absolute dormancy over microbial socialising. For hosts nice enough to offer them a place to crash for the night, an unpleasant experience often follows – for viruses tend to overstay their welcome, and not only that – the guest tissues are renovated to suit their needs to the limits of emptying food coffers and establishing new colonies for their newly born children to live and do the same thing over again. While this may read as disgusting social behaviour and a distasteful mindset on the part of viruses, an interesting analogy could be made for another group of organisms that boast of ample cranial capacity along with admirable abilities with respect to natural consciousness – a mammal species of ape descendants that happens to be the most successful at living out the Virusian Dream.

Just as scientific research has indicated microbes evolving to becoming immune to various methods employed for complete annihilation of their colonies (stemming from the noble sentiment of having had quite enough of casually inflicted holocausts), these creatures that inhabit dry, oxygen-rich regions upon their host too have managed to safeguard themselves from their own challenges of life. Locally sourced tissue of the host, such as wood and stone, has been used and fought over for burrowing purposes – a clever mechanical barrier from common atrocities they wish to avoid. A natural programming serves them to help out their fellows, either directly and individually or indirectly in organised forces. For countless generations, ever-growing modifications to the code has caused these pathogens to survive for a longer time. One of the established challenges is nourishment, and to overcome this, certain factions become providers and others remain consumers, interchangeably; another is physical modification of their environment, which is done at the levels ranging from within burrows and outside burrows, to colonies of burrows. Countless similar challenges have been dealt with, ensuring an undisturbed and polished evolution grasping for perfection. Wherever life isn’t sustainable, it is forced to be so!

When creatures not in equilibrium with their environment are allowed to wreak havoc upon it, and produce copious number of generations still, an ugly natural truth is exposed: Charles Darwin’s phrase survival of the fittest is actually a reference to life’s property to be dominated by the most destructive of its creations. Must life itself be termed as a disease then, and humans, highly evolved pathogens? Quite so, and this would shatter humanity’s illusions of superiority. Every step taken for self-improvement, self-preservation, and communal well-being could only be viewed as blind programming aimed at prolongation of generations and sustenance of life, which in turn has proved to be organised destruction. As humans, we may find natural order disorderly, for it interferes with our protected illusions. We may find solace in our collective strengths, in glorious feats scaled by us to protect our way of consumerist living and uplift our sense of self-awareness. Till when, I ask? Our host may eventually shrug us off, or we may kill ourselves off over time. There is some solace for it in that.

If however we find the idea of Virusian Life pleasurable, I would say that we go straight past Denial, Anger, Bargaining and Depression to A C C E P T A N C E.